Sometimes these eco-friendly gadgets do end up being a little odd, however, this is a green gadget focussed firmly on the kids. This is a hand-powered torch in the shape of a penguin.
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It’s refreshing to find a hand-powered green gadget that’s actually useful, particularly with the Piranha Dynamo and Rechargeable Shaver. With just 1 minute of cranking, you get 80 seconds of shaving time. If you charge up the shaver via the mains, it would take 8 hours and give you around 60 minutes of shaving.
However, if you’re in the middle of nowhere, a hand-powered shaver is a pretty useful eco gadget. If the shaver had some kind of generic charging socket, you could use a solar panel too. However, standardised charging sockets are a long way off, but it’s a simple idea that might sell a whole lot more gadgets.
Source: TreeHugger
Hand-powered torches have been around for ages. Essentially you repeatedly squeeze a lever that converts the linear motion into a rotational motion that drives a dynamo. The dynamo then charges an internal battery that allows the low-powered light (often LED-based) to light up for a few minutes or hours. However, the Mini Dynamo Massager Torch, rather bizarrely, adds a massage function!
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M2E Power are working on a range of alternative energy generation devices that exploit the Faraday principle. Energy is generated by a moving magnet within an coil, which could be then used for commercial and military applications. The M2E Power team are working on a highly efficient variation that offers between 300% and 700% more power from other kinetic energy devices.
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Have you noticed that we seem to need batteries for this, batteries for that. Everything seems to need a battery! According to DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), 700 million batteries end up in UK landfill annually! Most batteries contain harmful chemicals, resulting in soil and water pollution. It’s refreshing to find a remote control that does not need batteries. The Wind Up Universal Remote Control can replace all of your existing remote controls, powered purely by the hands!
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If you’re stranded in the middle of nowhere, the last thing you need is to be scrambling around for batteries so that you can radio for help. You might have a solar panel, you might even have a few AA batteries floating around. But batteries don’t last forever, and solar powered chargers take several hours to charge standard batteries. The emergency crank radio exploits a hand-powered dynamo to give you several hours radio use on a 2-way radio.
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Orange have announced the release of an eco friendly gadget prototype, a charging device that is powered by movement or “dance energy”. The concept uses a collection of magnets and coils to generate electricity from movement; the same principle used by kinetic watches. The Dance Charge has been designed with summer festival revellers in mind, allowing the device to charge from movement such as dancing.
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This intriguing little MP3 player is recharged from either a traditional USB connection or by hand. With just 60 seconds of cranking by hand, you get up to 10 minutes of power to play the music. If you’re in the middle of nowhere without a USB power source, it’s a great way to keep your batteries going and it’s good for the environment too.
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